Intensive home visiting services for new parents

The Foundation's program, New Jersey Health Initiatives, was designed to support projects in New Jersey that develop new approaches to resolving the state's health care needs, focusing on the Foundation's goal areas.The purpose of this project is to replicate a successful Healthy Families program that originated in Hawaii and provides early identification and intervention for families at risk for child abuse and neglect. (Healthy Families is reported to be 99 percent effective in reducing child abuse, 98 percent effective in obtaining immunizations; and 95 percent effective in early identification of developmental delays.) A statewide network will be created and the pilot sites will be evaluated. The project has several components: (1) identification of at-risk infants at local hospitals and health care clinics; (2) interviews by an Assessment Worker (trained in an intensive 6-week program); (3) linking the child with a primary health care provider; and (4) home visits emphasizing child development information, parenting skills and support, and referral to other services such as housing, substance abuse treatment, and WIC.